Description: In The King’s Justice, a stranger dressed in black arrives in the village of Settle’s Crossways, following the scent of a terrible crime. He even calls himself “Black,” though almost certainly that is not his name. The people of the village discover that they have a surprising urge to cooperate with this stranger, though the desire of inhabitants of quiet villages to cooperate with strangers is not common in their land, or most lands. But this gift will not save him as he discovers the nature of the evil concealed in Settle’s Crossways.

The King’s Justice: And we open with ‘Black’ riding hard through torrential rain in the gloom towards Settle’s Crossroads.

“He’s full of holes!”

Oh my, what atmosphere Donaldson can build, I had forgotten just how good he is at the dark, the gory and the twisted. This almost felt like a gothic western.

Description: The “Augur’s Gambit” is a daring plan created by Mayhew Gordian, Hieronomer to the Queen of Indemnie, a plan to save his Queen and his country. Gordian is a reader of entrails. In the bodies of chickens, lambs, piglets, and one stillborn infant he sees the same message: the island nation of Indemnie is doomed. But even in the face of certain destruction a man may fight, and the Hieronomer is utterly loyal to his beautiful Queen–and to her only daughter. The “Augur’s Gambit” is his mad attempt to save a kingdom.

“…and to her lips she had purposefully
nailed a gleaming smile…”

A gothic tale of royalty and seersayers richly imbued by courtly language which only Donaldson can pull off in these modern sms speke times.

An awful amount of offal smeared through these two tales: great reading for the festive period.

4* The King’s Justice

4* Lord Foul’s Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, #1)
4* The Illearth War (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, #2)
4* The Power That Preserves (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, #3)

4* The Wounded Land (The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant #1)
5* The One Tree (The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, #2)
4* White Gold Wielder (The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, #3)